Every year, from Sydney Harbor to Times Square, billions of people celebrate as they count down to the beginning of a new year. However, December 31st is not the only New Year’s celebration. Many are familiar with Chinese New Year, which occurs annually between January 21st and February 20th.
What about the Persian New Year?
Another New Year’s celebration you may not be familiar with is the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz. Nowruz, meaning “new day” in Farsi, is an annual festival celebrated on the first day of Spring by hundreds of millions of people, including Iranians, Kurds, Afghans, Pakistanis, Tajiks and Turks.
This might sound like a big deal in Central Asia, but did you know that, according to worldpopulationreview.com, there are around 500,000 Iranians in the United States, including close to 1,000 in Mississippi alone? That’s only Iranians and doesn’t include the other people groups who celebrate the annual festival!
As we think about this celebration, celebrated by around 300 million people annually and by many people in our state, let’s think about some common themes it shares with Scripture and how it could offer a simple way to share our faith with our Persian neighbors.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Zach Kilpatrick and originally published by the Baptist Record.
